Q&A: Scarlet Sails’ Olya Viglione

Posted on May 31, 2017

The lovely Olya and Brian Viglione of Scarlet Sails, came to town a few weeks ago, and we had the treat of being able to see them play and have a chat. They are in the middle of their East Coast tour, but they also had their amazing debut album , Future from the Past, just come out. Olya has a voice that sounds like a thousand angels, and she just may be one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. This album is her baby, and this is what she has to say about it.

Deanna Soukiasian: How have you been since the album came out?

Olya Viglione: Since the album came out it’s been great. The whole process of doing the Kickstarter was an amazing experience. I didn’t expect the outcome we doubled our goal, and the amount of support that we got for this record was just incredible. When you get that much support for something, it gave me the wings to think I can do anything! Right now, we are on tour, and we just shot our second video for the song “Butterfly”. The whole time [we were shooting the video] it felt like a top secret, but it’s so beautiful and we did some stuff with body painting, and some crazy designer headpieces. It’s going to be really cool. We are getting ready to shoot our third video, all the kickstarter supporters are going to come down to our house and shoot the video. This was one of the stretch goals too, we live in this crazy house, its five floors- an old townhouse with creative people. We are doing this party, it’s going to be different eras, and people are going to be dressed up, and then we are all going to end up on the rooftop jamming out with the whole band.

DS: Is the album everything you hoped it would be and is this how you pictured it?

OV: It’s that and even more. There is a reason why it’s called “Future from the Past”, so many reasons. First of all it’s what you dreamt of and what you envision yourself being and it’s in the past and now it becomes the future, which is present. And it’s this loose kind of concept, and it’s about the dreams that are coming true and that’s the present in which you live in. So with this record it was that kind of deal. I always wanted to record with some strings and horns and different types of keyboards. So we have a saxophone player, a trumpet player, a cellist, and organ player. Everytime I write a song I hear different sounds in my head, and I rarely get to use all those pieces. And this time I was like “I’m doing it” because I want to do it right.I started the pre-production probably when we got back from our last tour with Nina Diaz. So in September I came back, and I started putting song lists together for the record, and I wanted to go big on this one, and go full out.

DS: It’s so important to make work that you are happy with. I think that’s why the album came out so fantastic. But how has this tour been so far? It’s just the beginning isn’t it?

OV: This tour is kind of short we’re doing eight shows, and then we are going back on the road in July. It’s like, we are a band, but we all still have day jobs and stuff like that. As soon as it’s summer vacation, we are going to get back on the road and this time we are going to go to the West Coast. We have never gone, so it’s really exciting. It is maybe going to be three weeks to a month.

DS: Are you guys going to just California?

OV: We are going to Seattle and Las Vegas. We have a lot of people in California who have expressed they want us to come do a West Coast tour. We have the Kickstarter backers, people on Facebook, and our mailing list-people who are enthusiastic and want to see us.

DS: I think it’s also how much you guys interact with your fans, with the Kickstarter, and in general I know you guys are very connected with your fans, and that really helps a lot.

OV: Yeah, that whole experience with the Kickstarter, for us it was like, who knows if it’s going to be good or not.

DS: It’s always a risk with crowdfunding and fundraising in general.

OV: We hadn’t done crowdfunding before, and we heard it could be really questionable. But as soon as we started, it was such a cool experience, everyone was stoked.

DS: What else do you want people to know about this album?

OV: Some of the song that ended up on the album are as old as my first years in New York, in like 2011-12. Some of them are as new as 2016. There is a little bit of everything and it paints my journey, from coming to America and establishing here, and going through different crazy stuff. So, this is a very personal record for me because it’s all the songs and heartbreak, and stress. And these seven years have been the most exciting and risky, and I am excited to share all those stories with the world, and I hope it resonates with people.

Make sure you go listen to Future from the Past, AND make sure to check out a special appearance by yours truly in their new music video, shooting this weekend!

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Deanna Soukiasian is an artist, musician, and writer for Acentric Magazine. Born and raised in the Greater Boston area she is a classic over reactor, and feminist killjoy who enjoys iced coffee in the winter.